MAKING PROGRESS IN THE LIFE OF PRAYER AND LOVE
(A) OUR LADY’S RENEWED CALL TO LIVE BY HER MESSAGES

Weekly message No. 53 (28st February 1985):

Making progress in love.

“Dear children! Today I call you to live the word this week: “I love God!” Dear children through love you will achieve everything and even what you think is impossible. God wants this parish to belong completely to Him. And that’s what I want too. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

STARTING THURSDAY, 5 March 2009 (see texts below)

1st day: Matthew 5:13-16. (Thursday) Salt of the earth, and light for the world.

Matthew 5:13-16. 13You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men. 14You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

2nd day: John 14:21-23. (Friday) Keeping God’s commandments is a special way of loving God.Cf 1 John 5:1-4.

John 14:21-23. 21He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered him, if a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Cf. 1 John 5:1-4.1Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.

3rd day: 1 John 2:3-6. (Saturday) God’s love is being manifested in the person who keeps His commandments.

1 John 2:3-6. 3And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

4th day: Romans 5:5. (Sunday)God’s love is poured into our hearts so that we may be able to love others with God’s love. Cf. Galatians 4:6-7.

Romans 5:5. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

Cf. Galatians 4:6-7.6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.

5th day: John 13:34. (Monday) The mandate of Jesus to love as he loved us. Cf. John 15:12.

John 13:34. 34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Cf. John 15:12.12This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

6th day: 1 John 4:7-12. (Tuesday) God is dwelling in us through loving each other.

1 John 4:7-12.7Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

7th day: Titus 2:14. (Wednesday) Jesus purified us through his sacrifice of love so that we may be able to do good. Cf. Ephesians 2:8-10.

Titus 2:14. 14Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Cf. Ephesians 2:8-10. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God 9 not because of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

SUGGESTIONPRACTICAL: During this week make some efforts in doing charitable service, to others, out of love for God.